Saturday, March 5, 2016

First time packing the bike

There is a first time for everything, and today was the first time I packed Makani Kekoa, my new Cervelo P3 tri-bike, into its Timbuk2 bike case.

I have taken road bikes to Maui for the Hana ride, but for those trips Frank Smith prefers we use minimal wrapping, just bubble wrap over the more exposed frame tubes, and let the ground crew carry the bikes on and off the plane. This makes sense when there are a dozen people in the group and only one sag wagon. We arrive in Kahalui, get the bikes road worthy, stuff the bubble wrap in the sag wagon and ride off. A dozen bike bags who require a van all to themselves.

The first bike I took to Maui was a Davidson steel frame. Great bike -- I still have it and really should ride it more. Then came my Merlin, in all its titanium glory. Both bikes, especially the Davidson, are capable of withstanding a reasonable level of banging around. Carbon fiber is strong, but even so I feel uncomfortable exposing my new baby to potential mistreatment, so it will travel in a bag.

Honestly, I intended to take more pics to document the process but I was so worried about getting it done I forgot. So all you see is the beginning and the end. Hopefully I will have the presence of mind to grab some shots as I unpack.